Jefferson Curl style exercise for straddle flexibility

I love the jefferson curl and have seen a huge improvement in my pike flexibility since starting it.

I want to know if there is a similar exercise for improving straddle flexibility. I've tried some things but nothing seems overly effective.

Whether there is one within the foundation course of outside of it that someone knows.

Thank you

There is one in the Foundation course that will address this for you in due course

JC are just an example of loaded stretching which seems to be very beneficial to adults. You can do a straddle pike stretch under load though I'm not sure if you'd need to curl down like you do in JC.

Jon Douglas said:

There is one in the Foundation course that will address this for you in due course

What is that?

Try doing a JC with your legs apart.  

For details on future Foundation elements, you'll need to purchase Foundation 2.

Jeremy Huston said:

Try doing a JC with your legs apart.  

 

I would not recommend this, if you stand with a 90 degree straddle that's 70% of the force (your weight plus whatever you put on the bar) going perpendicular to your knee joints. There have got to be better risk/reward options.

dgaetano said:

I would not recommend this, if you stand with a 90 degree straddle that's 70% of the force (your weight plus whatever you put on the bar) going perpendicular to your knee joints. There have got to be better risk/reward options.

believe it.

it can be done.

SLS PE iM's sort this out for you and also, building up the jefferson curl weight in a sensible manner is expected, anyway. never more than enough that you can perform 5x5 perfect reps at that weight and that you've gone through the whole over load, load and underload stages to boost the connective tissue benefits. i can't recall on which topic Coach mentioned the importance of not skipping over the underload stage. 

If you start with your legs 1 foot (30cm) apart and only 5 pounds (2.5 kg) on the bar, it's very reasonable.  Don't start with 90 degrees and bodyweight on the bar.

You guys are both talking about having to strengthen your knees before you can do a stretch which has nothing to do with your knees. That doesn't strike you as inefficient and poor risk / reward?

For me personally I think about trying to precariously balance on a bench in straddle position with extra weight and all I see in my mind's eye is an injury waiting to happen, but then I'm pretty old

Here's two other suggestions for working on your straddle flexibility:

1: (requires no athleticism or extra money)

Sit on the floor in straddle position facing your stall bars. Fold into the stretch and grab the bars, pull on them as needed. Friction between you and the floor absorbs much of the force (instead of only your knees), you have complete control over the applied force, no balance required.

2: (requires some athleticism and money)

Buy H2, follow the IM progressions which are all about the pancake. Note that the progressions start with a bunch of body weight stall bar work, so if you don't have the athleticism for this (let's say at least F1 level athleticism) then this is not a realistic option for you at this time. Also you'll be paying for a course and only using half of it (the H2 exercises themselves require F2 level athleticism and a good handstand, so most of H1).

^^^Those are fine suggestions, and I really like the seated stall bar passive stretch. But, doing weighted straddled hip extension exercises (like straddled Romanian Deadlifts, Windmills, straddled JC's, etc...) is not necessarily the "injury waiting to happen" that you fear it is if you aren't overzealous with your degree of straddle or weight used. Sure, there is some medial strain on the knees, but, like all connective tissues, your body is capable to adapting to this strain and rebuilding itself stronger and more pliable if you don't overdo things and allow for enough recovery (time and nutrients).

Doing both the loaded work to build strength in those ROM's and build the connective tissues stronger, and the passive stretching to improve recovery and increase your flexibility reserve (and, if you are also doing your Manna progressions you will already be working your active hip flexion strength) would probably be the best course of action.

dgaetano said:

You guys are both talking about having to strengthen your knees before you can do a stretch which has nothing to do with your knees. That doesn't strike you as inefficient and poor risk / reward?

 

For me personally I think about trying to precariously balance on a bench in straddle position with extra weight and all I see in my mind's eye is an injury waiting to happen, but then I'm pretty old

 

Here's two other suggestions for working on your straddle flexibility:

 

1: (requires no athleticism or extra money)

Sit on the floor in straddle position facing your stall bars. Fold into the stretch and grab the bars, pull on them as needed. Friction between you and the floor absorbs much of the force (instead of only your knees), you have complete control over the applied force, no balance required.

 

2: (requires some athleticism and money)

Buy H2, follow the IM progressions which are all about the pancake. Note that the progressions start with a bunch of body weight stall bar work, so if you don't have the athleticism for this (let's say at least F1 level athleticism) then this is not a realistic option for you at this time. Also you'll be paying for a course and only using half of it (the H2 exercises themselves require F2 level athleticism and a good handstand, so most of H1).

as a side note, a common roadblock for pike stretches are tight calves, tight glutes(maximus or the rotators(piriformis, gemellus superior/inferior, etc) so, gaining strength/mobility in the lower body(especially in the adductors - one of the reasons the PE is what it is? who knows) WILL prepare your knees for valgus(medial knee) pressure causing injury. in this case, Inside Squats. however, my mentioning this does not mean, you absolutely HAVE to have that conditioning under your belt, but it does come later in the course for a reason. i just mention it so that it isn't confused that simply straddling your legs open will expose your knees to danger, the same way doing it feet together will expose your lower back to danger.. careful opening of the legs upto a certain point (I'd say the point where you can completely sink to the bottom without allowing your foot arch to collapse / legs internally rotate.) and what to do after is still up in the air, since I haven't mastered JC at bodyweight, let alone straddle JC. regardless, before you even get to the point where you would benefit from straddle JC, you can even do straddle downward dog pulses forwards and backwards with sticking your butt out. the take away is not that "how can it be that i have to prepare my knees to stretch my hamstrings" is not the question, it's "how to best go about scaling things that I could benefit from without hurting myself" posing the SLS PE iM's as an added insurance to prepare your knees means that that weakness won't be the excuse to not do Straddle JC's. . 

if you cannot comfortably sit down with a 90 degree hinge in relation between your body and your legs, it's safe to say that seated straddle stretches are not going to be your bread and butter. perhaps after quite a bit of stretching(standing), you can use that position(seated) and/or your alternative of doing it with stall bars(or pulling up a weight) the important part is to hinge at the hip and to also pull the legs(I focus on my knee) towards me and eventually passed me. the whole point of using which exercise and when, is to be able to learn how to do the exercise while at the same time, not exposing yourself to injury or to spend more than you need to doing things that are relatively simple, so if i hinted to that direction, my apologies. it wasn't my intention!